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Swooping Down
Swooping ''D''own Episode Three, Season Six, of Cold. Enjoy <3 Swooping Down Today we were cooped in the trees. We’ve been down at the island for five days practicing for five days, and today was no different. Well except we were in the trees. “I know you guys aren’t supposed to fight in the trees, but I want you to practice!” Gorse snapped, “Get accustomed to this style in case we need you!” We hadn’t even been allowed to get off this tree, and Gorse expected us to live our lives in the trees. “You are to hunt from up here and do everything up here today and tonight.” He ordered. “Great StarClan,” Willowfur clutched her tree tightly, “Who died and made him leader?” “Storm did,” Dawnfur groaned, “That’s why we’re up here while he’s down there!” She tried to jump to the next tree and nearly slid to the floor. Gorse glared up at us, “If any of you touch the ground, you’ll have to do what I deem appropriate for you punishment.” Brownhare was sitting in his tree, his tail dangling from it. He had his eyes closed, and he seemed to be thinking about something else. “Storm,” he mewed suddenly, “I have a question for you.” “Hit me,” I mewed, a bit uneasy with his sudden urgent tone. Brownhare opened his eyes and stared at me, “How do you make it stop hurting?” he whispered, “I used to never feel any...emotion, but Amberfrost urged me to try to feel, and now...how do I make it stop?” I didn’t know what to say, “I really don’t know,” I admitted, “I’ve never stopped trying to feel...” “I never really cared for emotions when I was in FireClan,” Brownhare sighed, “Not like there was much for me to care about anyways. But Amberfrost, she loved me, you know? She wanted to me to feel for the greater good.” “But that didn’t help?” “No,” he agreed, “At first, it felt...nice, loving Shade. I thought, maybe, emotions were a good thing and that Amberfrost was right. But now...it hurts so much. I kind of wish I never changed.” “But you have,” I breathed out, “And you need to live with it.” Brownhare closed his eyes again, “I don’t know, is it worth fighting for?” Before I could say anything, Gorse barked, “Get moving! I expect you to be able to hunt from up there!” Sighing, I leaped for the next tree, choosing a route off the island in order to find some birds of squirrels in the trees. ~ Brownhare searched for Shade. He knew he shouldn’t, but he had to tell her now before she never understood. “Shade!” he called out after her, “Please, I need to talk to you!” “No,” the dark gray she-cat mewed flatly, “Leave me alone.” Brownhare landed near her, “Shade, I need to tell you this before you never get a chance to understand.” She whirled around, “Do you love me?” She whispered, her eyes anguished and tormented. Brownhare blinked. “Not in the way I should,” he mewed softly, “I don’t feel love the way you do.” He admitted. “What?” “Well, the love I had with you, to me its friendship. But I do care,” he sighed, “I care, but I don’t...love...you.” Shade looked taken aback, “So we’re not okay.” Brownhare shook his head, “I told you before, there are other things I need to deal with first, and my feelings are one of them.” “Will you ever...change?” “I don’t think so,” Brownhare tipped his head, “I don’t think I’ll ever love. But I do think I could care for you.” “I think that’s enough,” Shade closed her eyes, “For now.” ~ I settled in my tree, sighing in relief. I had returned to the island laden with prey. Gorse had been surprised by the amount of prey we brought back and gave us a break. He himself left some small, white and brown she-cat in charge, and left to talk to his Eagles. Duskshadow, who absolutely didn’t care if Gorse punished him or not jumped off his tree and padded right past the she-cat. Tessa let out a soft sigh when the she-cat stopped him and the two had a heated discussion. Graystorm rolled his eyes, “That idiot is going to get himself killed.” Snowbreeze snorted, “Let him be, let’s eat.” We dug in, tired from clinging to the trees and swinging back and forth just to get accustomed with the Eagles’ lifestyle. Tessa was still staring worriedly at Duskshadow, and I nudged her, “Relax, he knows how to take care of himself.” The ginger she-cat nodded absentmindedly, “I guess,” she shrugged, “But he’s so hotheaded at times, especially with Gorse...” I offered her a piece of my blackbird, but she shook her head and dug into a squirrel instead. As we rested, Duskshadow and the she-cat continued to argue for the rest of the meal. Gorse came back and he started an argument with Duskshadow. Ryewillow muttered something incoherent, then coughed and mewed, “Excuse me? Can we do something a little more useful then arguing now?” Gorse blinked and looked up. “The Eagles are ready for battle.” “Great,” Willowfur piped up, “What are we going to do?” Duskshadow looked sullen as he glowered at the she-cat standing next to him. Without looking behind him, Gorse snapped, “Bright, bring him to the usual place and deal with him. He can wait for us until we get back.” The she-cat nodded and nudged Duskshadow along. “Where’s she taking him?” Kouhai muttered, narrowing his eyes at the she-cat. “Who cares?” Dawnfur growled, “Let’s just hope Gorse has something good planned for us for once.” Shade shot them irritated looks, but seemed reluctant to argue against them. Gorse ignored the barbed comments and mewed, “This afternoon, the Eagles will launch an assault on the Underground.” “Awesome!” Willowfur sighed, “Is the plan the same?” “Yes,” Gorse nodded, “You guys can rest for a bit then it’ll be time for the attack. We’ll meet you here.” He turned and stalked back out. Tessa let out a small sigh again, and continued feeding on her squirrel. Brownhare stretched and slid off his tree. “I assume we can get off now.” I grumbled, jumping off the tree I was sharing with Tessa. The rest of them slid down their trees, and I let out a sigh of relief when my paws touched the ground. “I hate trees,” I mumbled. Snowbreeze lay down in the shade of another tree, “I’m going to sleep,” she mewed nonchalantly, “Wake me up when Gorse comes back.” ~ Naturally, Gorse and the Eagles came from the trees. I stopped grooming and looked up, “Great StarClan, you do know that the Underground don’t occupy the grounds here, right?” “We are more accustomed in the trees,” one tom rumbled, “The ground is...not my land.” The she-cat from before snorted, “Only cowards hide on the ground, the trees are more natural.” “Of course,” Brownhare supplied, “of course.” Ryewillow flicked her tail, “The trees aren’t that bad.” She argued. Willowfur rolled her eyes, “Whatever, ThunderClan, can we just focus on this attack we’re doing?” Kouhai glared at her, “Hey, Ryewillow has a point.” “Of course she does,” Dawnfur sighed, “Honestly you moon over Ryewillow like a kitten mooning over a mountain lion.” “Is that bad?” He bristled, though his ears looked a bit red. Shade coughed, “Guys, can we please, like Willowfur said, focus on this attack?” Tessa turned to Gorse, “So, are we just going to proceed into this bloody battle that you’ve planned out?” “Why not?” He asked, smirking slightly, “Come on, you guys will need to travel above ground first though.” Groans came from all of us as we hauled ourselves back up the trees. I scrambled up and landed next to Gorse. “Where are we battling?” “Near the place we first met back up.” “Do you know where the Underground lives?” I persisted. Gorse shook his head, “No, but we’re working on it.” “Working on it?” I echoed, “Are you spying the area they usually hang around or what?” The thought of the Eagles perched in trees watching the Underground’s every moves...StarClan how did Gorse not win already? “Yes and no,” Gorse admitted, “We caught a spy a moon ago. We’ve been trying to get him to tell us something, but he’s very good at withstanding pain.” Gorse frowned, “We’ll think of something.” That made me shudder. “Right...” I muttered, “You go do that.” We traveled the rest of the way in silence, and soon, Gorse stopped and hissed, “Alright, you and your group lower yourself down and try to draw the Underground out. They don’t like to see newcomers on their land.” I flicked my tail to show I understood and dropped down. The others followed suite, and soon we were all scattered on the ground, searching. “Newcomers,” a hiss sounded from all around me. I jolted backwards, and my group formed a tight, protective circle. Shade and Tessa flanked me. “Who’s there?” I called out. “I could ask you the same question.” Again, it reverberated around me. I focused on the sound ahead of me. Tell them you’re with us. I remembered Gorse’s advice. “We’re with the Eagles.” Immediately, cats poured out of the bushes. “The Eagles?” the first voice purred mirthlessly, “How foolish of you to come to us then.” They lunged without another word, and my stomach lurched. I clawed at the first one, and I saw cats dropping down from the trees, held fast by another cat. They were supporting each other and swinging them back up out of reach. Yowls and shrieks filled the area quickly, and I shut out all the noise the keep fighting. Tessa immediately disappeared from my side, and Shade soon got lost in the mass of fur. “Duskshadow!” I heard Tessa scream. Duskshadow? He’s not here though! Tessa was struggling against a huge white tom while a dark brown blob was being dragged through the clearing. He was bleeding heavily, and soon, he was out of sight again. I saw Graystorm flash forward, as if to save the tom. The black tom holding Duskshadow whirled around, anticipating Graystorm’s next move. He brought down his paw and with a loud snap that silenced the clearing, Graystorm fell. Silence stretched out for a second. Then Snowbreeze let out an anguished sob. I gritted my teeth as another rogue crashed into me. We were losing rapidly, and StarClan knows where the Eagles went. Dawnfur grunted from behind me. “Now we would have been smart to ask some of our Clanmates to help.” Except you wouldn’t want Flameheart here bleeding out his soul. I reflected. I kicked another tom back, and pounced on some other she-cat. The battle raged on for a long time, cats shrieking and turning tail to run off. The circle we had formed long broke apart, and then I heard Brownhare let out a cry. I whirled around and saw Shade rearing up against the first speaker from the Underground. Gorse was already moving towards her, eyes wide. “Shade!” I let out a scream. The tom smirked and instead of moving out of her way, he plunged his claws into her stomach. “Shade!” I reached her side, helplessly staring down at my sister. “Retreat,” Gorse let out a yowl, leaping back up a tree, “Retreat!” The End. Category:Fan Fictions Category:Cchen3's Fanfics Category:Cold